After beating their first two opponents by an average of 36.5 points, the New England Patriots are considered massive favorites when they take on the AFC East rival New York Jets in Week 3 at Gillette Stadium. According to Nick Goss of NBC Sports, the Patriots are 17.5 favorites over the Jets in their Week 3 showdown, based on early spreads for Week 3 via the Westgate Superbook. As of this writing, the Jets are 0-1 following a close 17-16 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 1. They were scheduled to play the Cleveland Browns in Monday Night Football with backup quarterback Trevor Siemian starting because starter Sam Darnold is battling mono and is out indefinitely.

Siemian is also expected to start against the Patriots.

This was the second straight week that the Patriots are favored by more than two scores. Early into Week 2, the Patriots were 17-point favorite over the Miami Dolphins and it even went up to 18.5 two days before the game. The Patriots easily covered the spread with a 43-0 trouncing of the Dolphins behind seven sacks and four interceptions by their defense. The offense also stepped up, piling up 381 yards of total offense against the helpless Dolphins.

Las Vegas taking bets for Patriots’ 16-0 season

In a separate article, Goss reported that oddsmakers in Las Vegas are taking bets for a possible 16-0 regular season for the Patriots following the arrival of veteran wide receiver Antonio Brown to the team.

Will Brinson of CBS Sports said the latest betting lines from the Westgate Superbook in Las Vegas regarding the question “Will Patriots go 16-0?” is +1000. This came after the Patriots’ dominating win over the Dolphins last Sunday. Goss report indicated that the Patriots had the second-easiest regular-season schedule. The only hard part begins in Week 9 when they take on the Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11, Dallas Cowboys in Week 12, Houston Texans in Week 13 and the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14.

After that, the Patriots will face the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills and the Dolphins. In 2007, the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season, but they lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

Brady not focused on undefeated season

The Patriots have enough firepower on both offense and defense to complete a 16-0 undefeated regular season, but veteran quarterback Tom Brady is not thinking about it.

In an interview with WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show”, Brady stressed that he’d rather focus on the challenge at hand rather than think about the future. “To think about something that’s gonna happen two weeks from now or three weeks from now or five weeks from now is irrelevant,” Brady said. According to Brady, they will have plenty of time to think about it when it becomes reality. As of now, Brady said he’s focused on the Jets and how to attack them. “There’s big challenges ahead and to take your eye of what’s really important is a disservice to the team and we’re not doing that,” said Brady.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED